Summer Solstice, a pleasant warm day and I am in search of meadows. On the way up the East Drive I come on a swathe of foxgloves. Last month I was looking for oak saplings in this area (which was felled after the damage wreaked by Sorm Arwen); today I am treated to a naturalContinue reading “The march of history”
Tag Archives: meadows
Mostly native
The family walk was looking unhopeful with miserable weather – drizzle and low cloud. By the time we got to the start, just a few miles above Torphins in the Corrennie hills, there was thick fog. Other than the occasional tree looming out of the mist there was nothing much to be seen. Nothing toContinue reading “Mostly native”
Lovely lupins
The 1940s suburban Manchester garden of my childhood was full of lupins; the 2022 June Border of Crathes Castle is full of lupins. And all the gardens in between seem to have had at least some lupins. There are no native lupins in Britain, but some species, which originate from North America, have been grownContinue reading “Lovely lupins”
Tis the season for quizzes
Happy New Year! Whilst the short term view of the year is alarming, the long view does look more hopeful. Meantime Lockdown has returned and Crathes is off limits for volunteers. The gardening staff are still working, but other Crathes staff are on furlough. The walled garden is shut until further notice. Last year hasContinue reading “Tis the season for quizzes”
The North Ladies
My eye was drawn to an attractive lily at the corner of the Red Garden. The label informed ‘Karen North’. Now who could she be? Lilium lankongenseis is one of the Turk’s cap Asiatic lilies from China and Tibet, but the development of the hybrid ‘North Ladies’ turns out to be a Scottish story. DrContinue reading “The North Ladies”
Notes from Crathes 